Page 99 of Devoured

Evie rolls her eyes. “Try defending him when you don’t have his bite mark on your shoulder.”

Portia gasps when I glance down to find teeth marks. Faint, barely visible, but there all the same. I pull the slender strap of my camisole over them, wishing I’d put my sweatshirt back on. “Shut up, Evie.”

“I mean, really, why don’t we pass out fucking flyers at this point? Maybe we can even make posters and tape them throughout the Great Hall: Kill Cora Severi with us. Commit treason with Portia, Evie, and Vanessa.” She growls, shaking her head. “Portia was one thing, but Calix?” Impaling the peony beside her, she drags her dagger through its delicate petals. “He is her nephew. He is Sin’s cousin and best friend.”

Calix pushes off the dresser, and my stomach clenches. A fight between Calix and Evie really might be the end of the world. He glares at her. “You were her puppet four months ago. Has anyone questioned your allegiance, Evie?”

She slides off the bed, taking her dagger with her. “She compelled me. You’re her family.”

“You’ve never liked me.”

“Why should I? All you’ve ever done is prowl around and beat the shit out of people. You broke Eric’s nose in Combat and Conquest. He was thirteen.”

“He called me the son of a whore,” Calix snarls. “I was twelve.”

Evie moves directly in front of him, pointing her dagger at his heart. “If you turn any of us in, I’ll impale your precious cousin on your spinal cord.”

“Stop,” I demand.

Neither of them listens, so I shove my way between them. Seizing Evie by the arm and Calix by the wrist, I force them apart. Portia tethers Evie’s feet to the ground with a vine. “Enough.” I turn my gaze on Calix. “Evie is just worried that she can’t trust you.” I turn to Evie next. “And Calix is here to help us. He has reason to hate Cora too.”

Evie’s gaze sparks, and she opens her mouth to argue further. Thankfully, Portia interrupts her. “He already knows, Evie. Vanessa wouldn’t have brought him here without telling him the truth about what we’re conspiring. There’s nothing we can do now.”

My chest aches as a tendril of betrayal blooms in the hollows. Maybe I made the wrong choice. Maybe I keep making the wrong choices, doing the wrong things, trusting the wrong people. Maybe I’ve been the problem all along. “I’m sorry,” I say, fighting a wave of nausea. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you first, but Calix is a General. He has abilities and knowledge that we don’t. And I—I trust him.”

Evie lifts a cool shoulder. “What about a General is so special? I’m an Alchemist. Portia is an Earthcharmer. What can he do that we can’t?” She continues to glower at him. “Are you a dog, good at sitting and barking and coming when you’re called? Should I rub your head and throw you treats?”

Calix cracks his knuckles. “Stab me.”

Evie blinks at him. “Pardon?”

He cracks his neck next, then drops into a light crouch. “Stab me, Evie. I dare you.”

I glance at Portia, and she stares back at me. Unsure what else to do, I step away from them, and Portia loosens the vine. Evie smiles a menacing, bloodcurdling smile. “If you insist.”

Without hesitation, before I can even consider stopping her, she lunges. A blur of motion, the golden blade of the dagger gleaming in the candlelight, she slashes out at his arm. But the second she reaches him, he’s gone.

I whirl around to find him leaning against the vanity on the other side of the room. Portia staggers back a step.

“I… I don’t understand,” I say.

“Try again.” He beckons her forward with two fingers. “In fact, all of you try.” He glances at me, a challenge hot in his gaze. “See if you can cut me.”

I shake my head. “I don’t want to hurt you, Calix.”

“Too bad. I do.” Evie tosses her dagger to the floor and unleashes her claws. Leaping across the bed, feral as a rabid animal, she reaches for him, but, just as before, he vanishes the moment she comes too close.

Now he lies on the bed, pretending to yawn. “Portia? Do you want to try?”

It’s impossible.

I’ve never seen anyone move this quickly or precisely. Except—the massacre, I think suddenly. Calix attempted to save everyone while fighting off Cora’s werewolves, as if he existed in multiple forms at once. But that’s not entirely accurate. He’s not multiplying right now. He’s just… fast. Dangerously, preternaturally fast and strategic.

Portia extends her hands, and tangles of thorns follow, climbing over the bed and reaching for Calix. In the blink of an eye, he’s across the room. He wraps a hand around Portia’s throat. “Dead,” he whispers. In another blink, he attacks Evie, sending her sprawling on the ground. When she realizes what’s happened, he’s already on top of her with the dagger pressed to her throat. “Dead,” he says again. Then he glances at me, and he smiles. “Do your worst, Truthseer.”

He rises to his feet like a predator newly freed from its cage. His scarlet eyes sear through mine, reminding me of another memory entirely. Reminding me of a massive black wolf on a midnight road. Reminding me of blood on his fangs and blue hair in my hands.

It shouldn’t be so easy to conjure, yet it is. Rage boils through my veins. I let it. I use it to unleash my claws and fangs, feeling the strength of its tides roll through me until I’m trembling with anger. I bare my teeth at him in a guttural snarl.